Powerlifting

Squat – Bench – Deadlift. It’s what powerlifting is all about. I’ve done so many that I can almost do them in my sleep. Due to my body type, I found that I was more suited to doing the bench over the other two lifts. So much so that I broke a world record at my weight class and age group some years ago. If you are unfamiliar with powerlifting and the standard lifts, here is a short video that shows our sport.

Powerlifting News Video

Every sport has its tools of the trade and the sport of powerlifting is no different. Many don’t realize that powerlifting combines both strength and speed. I am small in stature but let me relate a story. I was working a job where it seemed like a number of phones were super glued to a board. No harm was going to come of this board that was bolted to the wall but our manager wanted us to remove the phones so that different products could be added to the board. My partner outweighed me by about 80 lbs., walked over to the phones and tugged at them as hard as he could. I thought he was going to burst a blood vessel. But he could not get any of the phones to budge an inch. He said they were there to stay and we should replace the board instead. My turn… I walked up to the first phone and with my own technique removed the first phone. My partner laughed and said that he must have loosened it for me. He walks up to the next phone and he could not get it to move. I then walked up and again had the phone off the board in a matter of about 1/2 a second. He said that he didn’t understand because he must be stronger than me. After all, I was only about 5′ tall and 114 lbs. I let him stew around the rest of the day before finally letting him know that I didn’t use pure strength to remove the phones. “Ah ha”, he said. “I knew you must have had a trick. You pushed a button or something and the phones then easily came off the wall, right”. No. I used a combination of strength and speed. Now you know what powerlifting is all about.

Powerlifting Tools Of The Trade

Wow. I went off on a tangent. Ok. In the gym you will want to use knee wraps and a belt while squatting, wrist wraps while benching, and a belt when doing deadlifts. In a powerlifting competition, you will wear a squat suit and powerlifting belt when squatting, a bench shirt and powerlifting belt when benching, and a singlet, powerlifting belt, and powerlifting shoes when doing deadlifts. If you want to get strong, improve your technique and stay safe at the same time, you will want to look into the following tools of the trade that are used in powerlifting.

• Knee Wraps – Holds your knees secure and keeps them warm. Example: Harbinger 46300 Classic Red Line 78-Inch Knee Wrap
• Wrist Wraps – Secure support for the wrists. Helps in gripping. Example: Altus Athletic Red Line Wrist Wraps
• Powerlifting Belt – Comfort and support for your lower back when lifting. Example: 4″wide, Leather Power Lifting Belt Black
• Squat Suit – Adds pounds to your squat.
• Deadlift Suit or Singlet – 4XXXXL – Powerlifting Singlet Powerlifting Singlet
• Bench Press Suit – Maximize your bench press. Example: 48″ Chest APT APEX Bench Press Powerlifting Shirt Benchpress
  

Some folks also use chalk and chains in their powerlifting training sessions. Chains? Yes. Imagine you have 200 lbs on the barbell and you are about to do a bench press workout. For instance, you would drape a 10 lb chain over each end of the bar (making sure that the chain will not fall off). In reality you now have 220 lbs on the barbell. As you are benching and lower the weight to your chest, the chains start hitting the floor and the 220 lbs slowly lightens to about 200 lbs as the bar touches your chest. With all your might you press the bar off your chest. That 200 lbs gets heavier as the bar travels towards lockout and the chains come off the floor. How is that for a bench press powerlifting tip?

Powerlifting Knowledge Base – Discover Correct Techniques

Increase Your Bench Press
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Explode Your Deadlift
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Powerlifting is about strength, speed, diet, workouts, mindset, etc…
As a powerlifter you will be mainly be doing 5-8 reps in your workouts, resting approximately 3 minutes between sets. Work 80% on the core exercises – Bench – Squat – Deadlift.
Take in plenty of protein in the form of whey protein and if the wallet allows, make sure you are taking a good vitamin/mineral supplement and add creatine monohydrate as part of your supplementation.

Some day I will share my knowledge but for now, if you are new to the sport I highly recommend the following products:

Powerlifting Basics, Texas-Style: The Adventures of Lope Delk

York Barbell 300 lb Olympic Weight Set With Bar and Collars